Deb
"foxytocin does a newborn HAVE to feed every 3 hours minimum"
no, longer breaks at night, 4-6 hrs are acceptable as long as he has fed frequently during the day. A baby less than roughly 6 wks old ought to feed at least once through the main part of the night, say between 10pm and 7 am.
one of the main benefits of roomsharing, sidecar cots and bedsharing is that the mother will rouse and a mum can respond to these arousals before the baby is desperate and crying. (crying is the last hunger cue) If cues are responded to before this stage, neither party awakens fully and go back to sleep faster, giving more restful sleep.
Look at the kellymom links I posted on the response to DG
here is a great little video of the benefits of bedsharing. As you can see, the plastic hospital bassinets are not as effective for successful establishment of breastfeeding.
there is some interesting study being done in the North East at the moment by the mother infant sleep lab at Durham U in a major hospital studying this issue but using sidecar cots rather than same bed sharing. I think this is a great step forward because we are so much of a culture that views bedsharing as dangerous, full stop.